Vets get a leg up on college costs in new program

As more university students struggle to make tuition payments, a new government program has made affordable higher education more readily available for veterans of post-9/11 service.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs recently launched the Yellow Ribbon Program, a part of the Post-9/11 GI Bill designed to offer significant financial aid to degree-seeking veterans who served a minimum of 36 months of active duty or 30 consecutive days before being discharged with a service-related injury, according to a prepared statement.

On its own, the Post-9/11 GI Bill provides veterans with financial aid that is equivalent to the cost of tuition for an in-state undergraduate student at a public university, assuming veterans meet certain conditions outlined in the bill, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs Web site.

Specific monetary amounts vary depending on the cost of the most expensive public university tuition in each state. The VA has not yet determined the amount of aid veterans attending Connecticut institutions will receive. According to the VA Web site, this figure will be announced by Aug. 1, when the bill will take effect.

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But for students at private universities or students pursuing graduate or doctoral degrees, the funding provided by the new GI Bill may not cover all educational costs. The purpose of the Yellow Ribbon Program is to provide more aid to veterans whose financial needs may not be adequately met by the GI Bill alone.

According to a prepared statement, each university that has agreed to participate in the program will fund up to half the remaining costs--including tuition, housing and other institutional fees--for a set number of veterans and the VA will match the university's contribution.

This means that at some schools, the Yellow Ribbon Program will provide veterans with the ability to earn their degrees for free. At other universities, veterans may still have to pay some amount for their education, but these payments will seem like pocket change compared to the total cost of unaided private education.

Yale University and Southern Connecticut State University are among the 19 institutions across the state that have signed onto the new program.

At Yale, up to 50 eligible veterans will be able to receive a maximum of $10,000 toward their yearly tuition costs beyond the aid they will receive under the Post-9/11 GI Bill, according to the VA's Web site.

Tom Conroy, deputy director of public affairs at Yale, said this additional aid will be a significant boon to veterans hoping to attend the university in future years. But because undergraduate student costs will be about $50,000 for the next school year, according to figures released by Student Financial Services, veterans cannot expect to attend the Ivy League university at no personal cost.

"I assume in most cases that the veteran would be paying part of his or her education," Conroy said.

But at SCSU, students in the Yellow Ribbon Program will be able to earn their degrees for free. According to Jack Mordente, director of veteran affairs at SCSU, up to 50 eligible veterans will find all of their student costs -- ncluding tuition, housing, books and other fee -- paid for under the Yellow Ribbon Program.

Veterans will be able to receive up to $4,000 per year beyond the funding offered by the Post-9/11 GI Bill: each student will receive $2,000 from the university and $2,000 from the VA, according to the VA Web site.

"As it will work at Southern ... it's a first-come, first-serve program," Mordente said. "[But] I doubt if we reach the 50 students; that's just my prediction."

Mordente said he is pleased that SCSU agreed to join the Yellow Ribbon Project because he has been supporting the need for a new GI Bill and improved educational funding for veterans for many years.

"We want to support our veterans," Mordente said. "They're thrilled. This is a pretty big deal."